Prostate cancer vaccine appears promising
Jacksonville - A therapeutic vaccine developed by Dendreon Corp. of Seattle appears to improve survival rates in men with otherwise untreatable metastatic prostate cancer.
The news was released this morning by the company after the positive results received in a study done on 512 men with prostate cancer. The vaccine, called Provenge, does not prevent cancer. Instead, it uses the body’s own immune system to attack and destroy the cancer cells.
Specialized cells are taken from the patient and exposed to specific proteins found on the prostate cancer cell that stimulate the immune system. The cells are then injected back into the patient, given in 3 different infusions every 2 weeks.
Details of the study are being withheld until it is formally presented to the American Urological Association later in April. Preliminary results suggest that the survival rate among patients receiving the vaccine over a three-year period was 34 percent, as compared to the patients receiving a placebo, whose survival was only 11 percent.
This is not the first study of Provenge showing positive results. In 2007 an FDA advisory committee recommended approval of the vaccine after a study of 127 men receiving it showed an average increased survival of over 4 months compared to placebo. However, further information was requested before approval could be granted, leading to the current study.
“This is an important day for Dendreon, and it’s an important day for prostate cancer patients. It’s been a long time coming,” Dendreon CEO Dr. Mitchell Gold told FOX Business on Tuesday.
The vaccine could be an exciting breakthrough, and not only for men with untreatable prostate cancer. The techniques used to produce the vaccine may also be applicable to other forms of cancer.
